Microsoft: next Xbox set to ‘deliver largest technical leap seen in a hardware generation’

The key headline from yesterday’s rather boringly titled ‘Xbox business update’ was the expected news that selected Xbox exclusive games would start making their way over to the PS5 and Nintendo Switch consoles.

You can read our story on that here, but there was in some ways even more interesting chit chat. Xbox president Sarah Bond said the next Xbox is set to deliver “the largest technical leap ever seen in a hardware generation.” You can watch the full video below.

In a way, such a claim about the next Xbox was inevitable. After all, moving Xbox games to other platforms was bound to prompt questions about whether Microsoft was serious about debuting another Xbox console generation at all.

There will also be more editions of either the  Xbox Series X and Series S before we get there though. Microsoft says it will have “more console and controller options for you this holiday.” So expect those to appear in the September-November timeframe. Bond called this “some exciting stuff coming out in hardware”.

The official Xbox tweet (below) accompanying the announcement made clear that Microsoft has a “robust and innovative multi-year hardware roadmap”.

Bond’s statement on the roadmap was clear: “We’re also invested in the next-generation roadmap.” This proceeded the aforementioned claim: “What we’re really focused on there is delivering the largest technical leap that you will have ever seen in a hardware generation.”

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Unleashing creative capability

Microsoft Gaming chief Phil Spencer also spoke with The Verge and expanded on the next-gen info. “I’m very proud of the work that the hardware team is doing, not only for this year, but also into the future.

“[We are} really thinking about creating hardware that sells to gamers because of the unique aspects of the hardware. It’s kind of an unleashing of the creative capability of our hardware team that I’m really excited about.”

One other interesting point Microsoft made clear is that Game Pass isn’t about to come to the other consoles. On Twitter/X it said “Game Pass will continue to only be available on Xbox platforms and will have all first party games.” and in a blog post the statement was even more explicit: “To be clear: Game Pass will continue to be only available on Xbox platforms.”

Opinion: What is the point of an Xbox without exclusive games? I don’t think there is one